The folk over at Star Pirates asked me if I’d review their web-based game. Playing’s free, and I’ve been out of the gaming loop for a while, so I put on my helmet, got into a Starship Sloop Mk. I, and spent a pleasant evening on Mars station.

It began with me not having a clue what to do. But as I found out, in the first 4 skill levels, nobody can really attack you. So, it gives you non-pressure time to examine all the options, to go to the asteroid belt, pick through space debris, or bet (and lose) money. With exploration, I found the interface simple and easy to use.

Along with this, within the first hour I was approached and offered friendly advice by a random player, who then gave me (as a newbie) a helping hand in the form of a Graviton Beam (which I installed). Shortly after that, I was greeted by an official welcoming pirate who gave me rum (which I drank), and more advice along similar veins. I felt very welcomed.

I enjoyed myself. I played long enough to be able to attack other pirates, or…. more like vice-versa. But in star pirates, a good drubbing is a cheery hello. Or, so I was told. Hrm. Wait a second.

As far as I know, you can’t actually die. When you get destroyed by someone, you are told various things such as, “Regenabots are working on you and prevent your movement.” So, dying does mean you might have to sit out a couple minutes, but it leaves you open to do any dang stupid fool thing you want, and give you a chance to talk about duct tape or waffles in the “shoutbox.”

I liked it. It seemed a good text-based community game. The “shoutbox” was always lively with chats. People were friendly. And it seems set up that you can spend hours upon hours there, or you can just pop in for an occasional few minutes.

Anyhow. That’s my review, I think it’s a good community. I spoke with them about setting up a SpaceTrawler fleet, and they did! So, if you wish to join Rickshaw Boans’s Crew, just follow this links from here. Enjoy!

I think it’s really cute that Flarnians wilt when people lie. I suppose that means no one ever invites them to poker games though! ; )

I mentioned Spacetrawler (and the Bruno & Little Dee reruns too) on my blog today. I don’t have a very large readership (mostly friends and family who live in far away parts of vast old Canada-land) but I enjoy your work so much that hopefully I am directing at least a couple of new fans your way. I hope it’s ok that I included a panel from Spacetrawler… I always like to get a little preview when someone makes a recommendation to me.

@Rags, naah. Gurf will dash in to the rescue. At Yuri’s insistence he’ll also grab Kreillan’s pot to take him back to the ship to recuperate. The taking of a G.O.B. hostage by the terrorist group Interplanet Amnity will cause some consternation. This will cause the G.O.B. bounty hunters to be activated. That particular crisis, however, will be resolved through Dimitri’s (ahem) “accurate firing”.

@Tom Dell’Aringa, thanks! Yeah, that panel took a bit, but was soooooo worth it.

@daniel wolff, hahahahhah! :)

@Brian Dunbar, gharrrrr! It’s not on audibook. Oh, fiddlesticks. And on ringworld: damn those herbavores!

@Christine (spiral bound), thanks for the lovely mention! And they will when “they KNOW someone is lying to them.” Goodness, they wouldn’t be able to leave the greenhouse if they wilted for every lie told.

@Brian Dunbar, sorry, i should have specified. If it was on cd or casette, i could have inter-library loaned it. But as an audible.com book I’d have to do it directly through them. For $45 no less.Hm. I suppose I could do my “one free for beginning 30-day trial membership.” Hmmmm….

A bit of a complaint here… Why are all the alien species roughly human-sized and shaped? This is what bugged me about Star Trek, but given that it was a television show with human actors, it could be overlooked. The only limit here is your skill and imagination. I would expect to see some megafauna-sized aliens in the crowd scene, where two or three representatives occupy an entire row. I loved the upside-down head guy in the first crowd scene, now it’s time for a background character where the heads are between the legs. Also, though I know it’s been mentioned before– hoofs + opposable thumbs = awesome.

Maybe the less humanoid species are in other rooms* with different chairs. Notice that the chairs we see close up are all traditional Earth style.

*With modern telecommunication you don’t really need to have your whole audience in one room. As it is here, most of the audience can only see the speakers on the big screen and hear them over the PA anyway. But then of course this subplot wouldn’t work if all the reps stayed in their offices networking.

Ack! She said the “L” word! Nooooo! Not the “L” word! *wilts*
Love the background reactions! (well, the two we get to see) and Yuri’s expressions

Also, I’m wondering what Darkhuenium is used for, it sounds like a dye. (Wait, so if they extract the Darkhuenium from Uranus, would it turn yellow?)

Lastly, love the Aliens you keep coming up with. If it weren’t because it would mean certain death, I’d like to walk up to the one directly behind Yuri and say “Hey man, what’s with the long face?”

And a PS: I think you miscolored the columns holding up the podium in panel 6; they’re yellow from all other angles (or maybe this is the effect darkhuenium causes?) Not that I mind. The convention hall looks awesome! How long did it take you to draw all that?